1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates generally to an improved data processing system, and in particular to a method and apparatus for a storage unit. Still more particularly, the present invention is directed to a computer implemented method, apparatus, system, and computer program product for monitoring depletion of an item in a storage unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, households and businesses store a variety of consumable items that are depleted through use. Once these items are partially or wholly depleted, a user must replace or replenish these items in order to maintain a constant supply. Depletion of consumable items in a household or business inventory can be monitored manually by visually inspecting the contents of various consumable items in stock and determining when items are in need of replacement. For example, a user can manually open a jar of peanut butter and visually determine the amount of peanut butter remaining in the jar. However, manual inspections can be time consuming, inaccurate due to human error, and burdensome due to the difficulties of checking every consumable item in a household or business inventory on a regular or semi-regular basis.
In addition to the time and manpower costs, if a depleted item is not checked and replaced in a timely manner, the item may not be available in a required amount when the item is needed by a user for a particular purpose. For example, it is extremely inconvenient to a user to discover an absence of new light bulbs in the house after a light bulb has burned out.
At present, some systems can perform automatic restocking of consumable items via trend analysis based on historical data. Automatic restocking systems can determine that an item, such as a gallon of milk, should be purchased every Friday based on previous usage trends for the item. However, this process is inadequate when external forces impact consumption of an item. For example, if a household relying on automatic restocking has two houseguests staying for a week, consumption of consumable items will be drastically different than the historical model. Therefore, many consumable items, such as milk, will be completely depleted before the next scheduled order interval. Moreover, in some cases, consumption of a particular item is too sporadic or infeasible to model based on previous usage of the item. In such cases, the restocking system is unable to accurately estimate depletion of those items.
Inventory systems utilizing identification tags, such as universal product codes (UPC) and Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, placed on or inside product containers can be used to determine what items are present on a given shelf in a retail store. These systems are sometimes referred to as “smart shelves.”
Smart shelves utilize radio frequency identification tag readers to identify products based on a unique identification code received from radio frequency identification tags associated with the products. However, radio frequency identification systems only provide information regarding the presence or location of an item on a retail store shelf. Current inventory systems do not provide information regarding the mass depletion or amount of the item remaining after the item has been partially or completely used. In other words, smart shelves enable users to track stock depletion as items are removed/sold from store shelves rather than mass depletion of an individual item as the item is used or depleted by consumers.
Some radio frequency identification systems can detect depletion of an item using a radio frequency identification tag having contacts inside the product container. When the contents of the container fall to a level below the contacts, the radio frequency identification tag sends a signal indicating that the product needs to be replaced. However, the system is only able to provide an indication of depletion at a single level, the point at which product is below the contacts. The system is unable to provide consistent, accurate, real-time depletion monitoring during the entire lifetime of the product.
Moreover, the system requires that physical contacts be placed inside each consumable item container. Such a requirement can be burdensome and cost prohibitive, particularly in a system involving a large inventory of consumable items that are constantly being consumed and replaced. If the contacts become disconnected or malfunction, a false depletion signal can be sent or an accurate depletion signal could fail to be sent. Such malfunctions would result in overstocking of some items and failure to restock other needed items.